How Young is Too Young for Tower of Terror

[redhead09]

I was just creating some maps, and I noticed that the Tower of Terror only has a 40 in height limit. So, with that said...is a 4 yr old (almost 5) well equiped for this ride? My DD is getting so much braver, however I don't want to scare her to death! Just thought I would pose the ?, as I am sure there are quite a few of you out there that have brought their kids on it....just thought I would see what their reaction was

 

[wilde_oscar]

I have rode with 5 year olds that do better than the adults

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

my 7yr old HATED the ride...still talks about it & she rode it over a year ago

 

[Taylor'sMom]

Took DD when she was 3, about to turn 4, barely making the 40" height req.
She didn't like it.
She dind't cry or scream, but just matter of factly said she dind't like it. It didn't deter her from riding anything else though. Last year (age 4, about to turn 5) she wouldn't do it again, but did everything else just fine. This year she tells us she "might" try TOT again.
She's certainlly not scarred for life.

My suggestion would be to try lots of other rides first. If she handles the rest, explain to her about the drop and let her decide. You can easily hold her hand and even hold her "down" in the seat to help the weightless feeling.

 

[Kathymcbain]

I was just creating some maps, and I noticed that the Tower of Terror only has a 40 in height limit. So, with that said...is a 4 yr old (almost 5) well equiped for this ride? My DD is getting so much braver, however I don't want to scare her to death! Just thought I would pose the ?, as I am sure there are quite a few of you out there that have brought their kids on it....just thought I would see what their reaction was

I'm so glad you asked this. I've been wondering the exact same thing, but was afraid if I asked people would think I was nuts for wanting to take my 5-year old on. It must depend on the kid. I have an 8-year old that I think would hate it, but a funny feeling that my 5-year old would really dig it!

 

[longstangetrip]

Some of mine rode it at 3. All kids are different. I have a 14 year old who never has! It is not scary (visually) but very intense. Have fun!

 

[Taylor'sMom]

I'm so glad you asked this. I've been wondering the exact same thing, but was afraid if I asked people would think I was nuts for wanting to take my 5-year old on.

We did get a woman who looked at us holding our 3 year old in line and said, "Oh my God, you're taking a BABY on this!" hahaha

For what it's worth, her favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion and she REALLY liked the rest of TOT with the ghost family, stars, eeire music, etc... she just didn't like the drop. We let her pick a pin in the gift shop for being "brave".

 

[jamaunt]

Yeah, I agree. Depends on the child. My 6 yr. old nephew rode it last year and couldn't get enough of it. We went on three times in a row. My 4 year niece wanted nothing to do with it.
If your child likes rides that lean toward more adult rides, try it. We always told our kids, try it once...if you don't like it, you don't have to go on it again...but just try it.

 

[srwarden1928]

Shorter than 40 inches is too young for the ToT. Disney has safety rules in place for a reason. They do NOT want someone injured. If your DD is tall enough, it is safe enough.

 

[flyersfan444]

We did the TOT last September. My daughter had just turned 5. It is her favorite ride in all of the World. We got back in line 3 times in a row (it was a slow day a DHS).

I say go for it!

 

[tzolkin]

Our DD was just a bit over 4 when she rode last year. She talked about it for months before the trip. That was #1 on her "must-do list", so I allowed her to ride with DH while I waited with the other two kids. We were going to do rider switch, so she could go again with older DD & I. When they came off the ride, she just very quitely said, "No thank you. I don't want to ride that again." She was scared, but DH seemed much more traumatized. He claims she was flying up out of the seat, he was clutching her and her seatbelt, they were in the front row, and he thought the ride would never end. He refuses to ever ride it again.

I would let the child ride if they want (after you've fully explained what it will be like).

 

[uncleleo]

If there's a chance that DD could be traumatically frightened, I think there's no good reason to risk such a thing. Suggest you present her with the facts - guidebook descriptions, Youtube videos, whatever - and ask her if she's interested. If she says no, respect her choice and ask again when she's older.

 

[marciemi]

We took youngest DS on it when he was 3 1/2. He really enjoyed it, and I don't think he knew he was supposed to be scared. We played it more like "WOW - isn't this cool?! Look, you can see outside!" as we went up and he had a blast. Later that evening, we went to ride RNRC (of course he wasn't big enough) and he insisted he wanted to do ToT again, so one of us waited with him there while the others did the coaster.

This time we were in a group of teens, who of course being obnoxious (and I have three of them now so I know they can be! ), were screaming at the top of their lungs. He totally freaked out and didn't even want to ride it again when we came back 2 years later because of that.

So my advice is that if you DO decide to try it with her, and you're with anyone who is being obnoxious in the line, ask if you can wait for a different elevator. Doesn't mean someone won't scream anyways, but there's a difference between the "startled" scream and the intentional, turn-purple one!

 

[JackTwo]

My 4 year old loved it! He keeps asking to go back on it again.

He loves thrill rides (Space Mountain, Tower or Terror, Matterhorn, etc.) but seems to get more frightened by scary images on other supposedly "family" Disney attractions. For example, he lost it when the spiders started coming down from the ceiling in It's Tough to Be a Bug.

 

[BamaFan121s]

I think it just depends on what YOUR kid can handle. I've seen kids 10, 11, 12 scared out of their minds on that ride. Then again, my DD's 3rd word was "tower" , she rode it for the first time when she was 3 1/2 and LOVED it.

 

[J3nn78]

My 3 year old LOVES this ride!

 

[bumbershoot]

I know the storyline is a bit different from WDW to DLR, so take this with a grain of salt. My guy went on it during his 4th b'day trip to DLR. He really wanted to go. And the ride itself, the physical going up and down, didn't bother him at all. But what bugged him to the point of not wanting to go again is that at one point in the DLR ride, you see the image of everyone in the car (mirror, I suppose) and then you turn blue with electricity and *disappear*.

He *hated* that we disappeared, it bothered him to the extreme. And that's why he doesn't like it.

So with littler ones, even if the actual ride doesn't phase them, sometimes they can really surprise you with the things that they dislike. If the WDW version has something like that, I'd find a youtube video to view at home, so the kiddo is ready and knows what is coming in the storyline.

 

[TKL SHOP]

I was thinking the same thing about my dd, she is 5. We didn't go on last year, but she seems intrested to go on this year. I am just afraid she will be scared and not want to go on any other rides. She likes fast rides, rollercoasters etc....I think I will leave it up to her. I rode it last year, I didn't think it was that bad, just the drop was unexpected.

 

[Guest-expert]

my 9 yr old niece rode it with her mom, and hated it, but forced me to ride it with her a second time and hated it even more the second time. I still tease her (she's 12 now) that she'll ride it again and still hate it, again!

 

[5littleindians]

Mine was 2 and 1/2 and LOVED it. I would say now that my older kids are nearly 9 they are more afraid than when they were little!